Payton Gendron, who police say killed 10 people and wounded three others in a racially motivated shooting Saturday in Buffalo, New York, was heckled as he left the courtroom toward the end of a Thursday court appearance.
“Hey, you’re a coward!” someone from the gallery shouted as guards led away Gendron, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and donning a white cloth face mask, according to a video Reuters Breaking News reporter Tyler Clifford shared via Twitter.
Someone yells out “Hey, you’re a coward!” as Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old accused of killing 10 Black people in a Buffalo grocery store, is escorted out of the court room this morning
Buffalo City Court Judge Craig Hannah sets June 9th for the next court date pic.twitter.com/ZFTKmL3ie0
— Tyler Clifford (@_TylerTheTyler_) May 19, 2022
Judge Craig Hannah returned Gendron to custody after adjourning the courtroom following the end of the felony hearing — a largely procedural step in the closely-watched case, according to The New York Times.
The hearing took place in a basement courtroom at the Erie County Court, with many of the victims’ relatives attending, The Washington Post reported.
The suspect, held without bail, will appear before the court for his next appearance on June 9. Gendron pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he faces a punishment of up to life imprisonment, The Associated Press reported.
The first-degree indictment handed up Wednesday covers the death of all ten victims, Assistant District Attorney Gary Hackbush said, according to The AP.
District Attorney John Flynn refused to comment on the case, saying his office would not do so while the grand jury continues its proceedings.
If convicted, should the murderer be handed the death penalty?
There is a possibility for the charges against Gendron to be upgraded to those of domestic extremism and hate crime, the New York Post reported.
Gendron is accused of opening fire Saturday on thirteen unsuspecting people at the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue, 200 miles away from his home in Conklin, New York.
The gunner, donning body armor, carrying a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle and live-streaming his actions through a helmet camera, injured three and killed ten.
All ten dead were black. Two of the three injured were white. Footage of the shooting showed Gendron apologizing to one of the white people he encountered when carrying out the shooting, the New York Post reported.
Radicalized during COVID-19’s early days, Gendron chronicled his motivations for the murders in a 180-page manifesto uploaded to Google Drive, according to reporting from The Daily Mail.
There, he railed against the possibility of black people replacing white people, laid out his hatred of Jews, black people and leftists, and listed the mass murderers who inspired him.
In the manifesto, he mentioned that he chose to target the supermarket because it was in the zip code 14208, which, according to him, “has the highest black percentage that is close to where I live,” according to The Daily Mail.
He had also railed against Fox News in his manifesto, as previously reported by The Western Journal.
Gendron also wrote in the manifesto that he planned to continue carrying out similar killings against minorities after the attack on the supermarket, the New York Post reported.
Gendron’s lawyers did not respond to The Associated Press’ requests for comment. According to the wire service, the victim’s relatives also did not speak to reporters while leaving the courtroom.
